County debates aid for struggling senior housing complex

Wednesday

?The Bucks County commissioners, wary of “throwing good money after bad,” want the agency that runs New Hope Manor to develop a game plan that makes the senior housing project financially viable.

“We’re a major investor in this,” Commissioner Rob Loughery said. “We should see some concrete steps.”

Those steps would be taken by the Bucks County Housing Development Corp., which is midway through a five-year, $750,000 aid package it is receiving from the county to “help maintain New Hope Manor for the betterment of the residents and the community,” said Brian Hessenthaler, the county’s chief executive officer.

The money comes from the Bucks County Housing Trust Fund, which seeks to increase the supply of affordable housing for lower income groups.

New Hope Manor is a 100-unit housing complex that caters to seniors. The corporation also operates residential properties in Bensalem, Bristol, Bristol Township, Hilltown, Hulmeville and Northampton. Those seem to be operating well. But the eight-year-old New Hope Manor facility has had cash-flow problems for years.

It offers 30 one-bedroom units to people with low incomes and 50 units to people earning up to $60,000 per year. The rest are market rate.

When New Hope Manor opened in 2003, it offered 30 one-bedroom apartments at $450 a month to people making $18,000 to $22,150 per year. Sixty one-bedroom apartments went to people making up to $60,000 per year for $950 per month. The market rate units rented for $1,300 to $1,450 per month.

“It’s a great concept, mixed housing,” Hessenthaler said. “From everything I’m hearing, the original business plan may have missed the boat on what some of the units can rent for.”

The nonprofit corporation has been under scrutiny since failing to pay on time the manor’s 2009 and 2010 tax bills and getting tagged with a 10 percent late fee each time. The corporation, Hessenthaler said, still owes about $65,000, though it has paid the taxes it owed the New Hope-Solebury School District. But it still has not paid its county or municipal taxes.

He said the group received a boost recently when the county board of assessments awarded it an exemption.

Hessenthaler said giving New Hope Manor its 2012 county aid during 2011 would allow it to finish paying its 2010 tax bill and help it pay at least the 2011 county and municipal taxes early, which would get it a discounted rate.

But at last week’s commissioners meeting, the board wasn’t willing to advance the cash without those “concrete steps” Loughery was seeking.

“I’m familiar with the difficulty with real estate and the economy right now,” Loughery said, adding that while “nobody wants anybody to fail” and “I certainly don’t want those seniors to be in a position that makes them any more uncomfortable than they are,” he wants to see a written proposal before handing over more money.

Commissioner Diane Marseglia was also skeptical.

“The impression I’m getting is they’re not doing anything to correct this,” she said, telling the board she’s received calls from residents with complaints.

When Hessenthaler mentioned the complex has a 10 percent vacancy rate, Marseglia said: “Then maybe we need to look at allowing other people to rent there. Here we are in a county with lots of homelessness and we’ve got 10 empty apartments in what was supposed to be considered low and moderate income. So maybe we need to look at the whole picture.”

Said Hessenthaler, “They weren’t doing their best to fill those vacancies. ... I believe they really feel as if they’ve run out of options. It’s a difficult situation, and they’re looking to see what the county can do.”

Commissioner Charley Martin said even during times when every unit was occupied, “they were still a little bit behind financially. So it was an experimental kind of project that, in the long run, was well intended and a good location and a nice building, but the financial rates didn’t quite cut the mustard.”

An auditor’s report indicates New Hope Manor’s financial problems go back further than 2009. The May 2009 report from Philadelphia’s Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP, shows it had net losses of $446,789 in 2008 and $298,880 in 2007. The aurditors also expressed “substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.”

Efforts to reach Joseph Pizzo, the head of the corporation’s board of directors, were unsuccessful Tuesday. A call to him wasn’t returned.

Gary Weckselblatt: 215-345-3169;

email, gweckselblatt@phillyBurbs.com; Twitter,@gweckselblatt

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